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A dark clad figure, eyes possessed with lust and greed, lurked in the shadows watching the dimly lit window across the road. The time had come. Three years of patience would soon be rewarded with wealth and power.

“You…must finish my work, Khamiel.” Her mother made made a feeble attempt to squeeze her hand. “It’s all I have to leave you, my dear.”

Her eyes slowly closed and a harsh raspy sigh escaped her lips.

Khamiel felt a tear slide down her cheek. She lowered her mother’s hand, leaned over and softly kissed her. “Goodbye, Mother.” A sob racked her body. “I love you.”

* * *

Khamiel Roche wrapped her hands around the mug of steaming coffee. The mug, like everything else in the kitchen, was old and chipped. The scarred wooden table bore evidence of long neglect. A block of wood, wedged underneath one leg of the gas stove, kept the relic somewhat level.

She pushed the chair away from the table and stood. It was time to put away her mother’s foolish dreams and get back to her life at the FBI forensic lab in Langley. As she opened the pantry door, Khamiel thought back to the countless times she had followed her mother through that door and into the secret world beyond.

The door closed behind her. She released the hidden catch and a panel slid open. Khamiel entered a series of numbers on the keypad and felt a moment of weightlessness. A few moments later, the door opened and she stepped into her mother’s ultra modern laboratory.

“Welcome home, Khamiel. Your mother said you would be coming.”

The voice came from a speaker located in the ceiling.

“Morning, Max.”

“I detect deep sadness in your voice.”

“Mother passed away last night.” Khamiel ran her fingers over the long black countertop of the lab table.

“I know. Would you like to review the files?”

“No!” she snapped. “I have no time for mother’s foolish dreams.”

“Everyone should be so fortunate to be able to follow their dreams.”

“What do you know about following dreams?”

“I know she let you follow yours, even though it broke her heart when you chose not to work beside her.”

“And end up like her with nothing more than a computer to talk to all day?”

“You are angry.”

Khamiel spun around and faced the camera. “Damn right I’m angry,” she lashed out. “My mother was one of the most brilliant scientists in the world and she threw it all away…and for what? To live like a rat in a hole chasing a fanatical obsession.”

“I remember the hours you spent at my keyboards. Your mind was like a dry sponge and your mother was never too busy to explain something new and help you unlock the mysteries. Your eyes would light up with joy and you would clap your little hands together with such excitement.”

“That was a long time ago in another life.” Khamiel slowly surveyed the lab. “All this equipment and money could have been used to help others discover new cures and further science.”

“Are you so sure it didn’t?”

“I know my mother.” Khamiel slapped the counter with an open hand.

“You know only what you wanted to see. I can open my files and—”

“No!”

“Very well then, Khamiel, delete my files, erase my memory if you must, but before you do, there are a few things you must see. Come into the other lab.”

She held her ground refusing to budge.

“Please.”

“Oh, all right.” She stomped across the floor, flung another door open and stepped inside a large room still painted in Air Force pale blue. Along one wall, plant lights hung suspended over a workbench covered with dozens of pots. At the back of the room, a large steel door closed off the underground tunnel to the elevator in the barn.

She heard the bleating of a sheep, but didn’t see the animal.

“Very funny. You play a recording from your files and expect me to…”

Something wet and warm nuzzled her hand and pressed against her leg. Startled, Khamiel looked down to see the head of a sheep turning the same shade of blue as her turquoise slacks.

She jumped back and the animal faded into the background of the straw covered floor. Her legs turned to rubber. Khamiel knelt on the floor and reached blindly to the sides and in front of her. Trembling fingers closed around warm thick wool. Open-mouthed, she gawked in wonder as the sun-darkened hue of her skin spread across the wool.

“Oh! Max!” Tears streamed down her face. “She did it. After all these years, Project Chameleon is a success.”

“There is still more testing to be done, but yes, Mother broke the code and was able to duplicate the formula.”

“Why didn’t she tell me?” Khamiel kept lifting and replacing her hand on the sheep, fascinated with the changing color of the wool.

“That, I do not know, but she was worried the formula might fall into the wrong hands before all the testing was completed.”

“Someone approaches the house.” A large monitor showed a sports car stop and a tall man with dark brown wavy hair step out.

“That’s Agent Haufmyer. We work together…” Khamiel ran for the elevator, “…sort of.”

“Do not tell him of this,” Max warned.

“Why not? He works for the FBI and I trust him.” The elevator door closed and began to move.

The hidden speaker in the elevator crackled. “For now, follow your mother’s wishes…trust no one.”

She stepped from the elevator and, as she closed the pantry door, Agent Haufmyer knocked. Khamiel hurried through the kitchen to the door leading outside, opened it and threw herself into his strong arms. “Leon, what a wonderful surprise.”

“I called the office. They told me you were here.”

“Come in. I’ve missed you. I’m glad you’re here.” She walked back to the table with her arm around Leon. “They didn’t mind you taking time off to come all the way out here to the middle of Georgia?”

He smiled impishly. “I can spare a day. The suits at Langley won’t be the wiser.”

“Leon, your temporary assignment in California has made these last three weeks seem like months.”

California! Alarm bells sounded in the back of her mind. Damn Max’s warning. I’m going to end up paranoid, just like Mother.